Oct 29 2011

Cloth Diapering…final words (beware I talk about poop)

Anna
Cloth Diapering...final words (beware I talk about poop)

I LOVE CLOTH DIAPERING!!!! I have only 1 regret…that I didn’t do it sooner! It has been the best thing for our family. Sure, there is the initial investment but really that cost will be made up for in about 5 or 6 months of disposable purchases. I was able to purchase several to try and sold most of them because I fell in love with Bumgenius 4.0 and Softbums Omni. They are the 2 easiest solutions for us and I love the way they fit my chunky monkey’s thighs! Plus, the Omnis will work for a newborn and both will fit from about 3 months on.

Let me breakdown the pros and cons for you if you are even teetering on the idea of CDing.

CONS: Bad news first…

poop – no one wants to deal with it. Luckily there are ways to effectively get rid of the poop (disposable liners) and move on with life! We decided to go down this road and they cost about $0.07/diaper change (if I use them every time). Abel is pretty predictable with his BMs so I only need to use a few during the day. My usual diaper cost alone was $0.27/diaper and that was with super duper discount!

washing – yes, you have to wash the diapers. But really is it any worse than washing a messy outfit? Not really. Most to all of the poop goes into our toilet (thanks to the liners) and I am actually only rinsing/washing pee. No my machine isn’t yucky and it doesn’t smell bad. I chose to wash our diapers every day as to not allow it to sit around in a bag. Since I do laundry ALL the time anyway, this isn’t a big addition.

stuffing – I chose pockets for our kiddos diapers. I like them for lots of reasons. Does stuffing the pocket take a little time, yes. It is worth it? To me, yes. I just sit on the couch with the kiddos running around playing and I stuff the pockets. No big deal for me! If this was a big deal to you, chose another type of diaper! Super easy and simple!

Addiction – This doesn’t happen to everyone but I thought it would be important to note. You can get addicted to buying “fluff” as it is called in the CDing world. Fluff is diaper in code. You think that every pattern is adorable and you have to have them all. Stick to your budget and buy used when you can!

PROS: Good news time!

Cost effective! I will NEVER have to worry about the purchase of another diaper AGAIN! Doesn’t matter HOW many more kids I have and if the “lights go out” we are prepared. PLUS, I can SELL these used for MONEY!!! Seriously? Does it get much better than that? Along with the cost, I no longer have to purchase Diaper Genie liner refills. YEAH! I can just use a regular trash can liner to put into the diaper genie to take my dirty wipes and liners (I do flush the poopy liners).

Great for the skin – Abel has such soft baby skin and I really think I can tell a difference with cloth diapers. He has had 2 bouts of diarrhea while going through this trial of cloth diapering and his rash (which he gets instantly) is gone almost immediately and I used NO DIAPER RASH CREAM. He never feels wet because the super duper awesome fleece of his diapers pull away the moisture. I NEVER see the chunks of goo that used to come out of disposables on his bottom. I never really wanted to know what that stuff was anyway.

trash day – Aaron can attest to this one. We have super light trash now! We always strive to be as “green” as possible. We believe in being good stewards of the earth. We recycle just about everything (glass, plastic, cardboard, paper) and we compost. We also really try to buy things that aren’t packaged ridiculously or that can’t be recycled. With that effort, we have made it a challenge to never exceed 1 bag of trash (39 gallons) per week – no matter how big our family gets. I know it may seem a lofty goal, but we do it and we think we will pass down great respect for the earth God gave us to our children. When we had both boys in disposable diapers it was a stretch to contain the trash to 1 bag because the diapers were so HEAVY! When it was just Abel in the diapers, it was still a REALLY heavy bag of trash. But now, we have so much less trash and it is lighter! Nice to know that stuff isn’t going to sit in a landfill somewhere! Granted, we are using water. Everyone always brings that up as a “well, you are using a precious resource” – yes, I am. But I do 1 small load every single day. It is so miniscule that the usage of the water far outweighs the 500 years of waiting for diapers to decompose in the landfill.

CUTE! – Cloth diapers are the CUTEST things around! Their tushies are super trim and the colors and prints are just adorable. I love seeing Taters run around in his diapers!

Elimination Communication – In the past month since we have gone down this venture, Abel has begun to understand “pee” and “poop”. He has even tried to poop on the potty! He will tell me in his way that he needs to go and we go and give it a try! Nothing happening. He still goes in his diaper but the minute he does, he comes to us saying “uh-oh” and pats his backside.  He wants changed and changed pronto. It is AWESOME to say the least. This is a HUGE change. He was a silent and secret pooper. You would never know he did it and you honestly couldn’t smell it! He was sneaky. Then you would finally go and change him thinking it was probably needed and get a gross mess. Now we have super easy cleanup! (except diarrhea but when is that EVER easy to clean up).

So there you have it! My experiences with cloth diapering and it was great!


Oct 19 2011

I would make a terrible serious drama actress

Anna

I came to this realization this morning while working out with my little munchkin playing away in his corral. I have a vice, I must watch TV while exercising in the basement. No way around it. I can’t stare at walls and be motivated. 24 has been my latest obsession. LOVE that series! Anyway, so I am watching the show, giggling at taters now and again and I realize that they NEVER smile or laugh in that show! I know it is a serious kinda show but NEVER smile or laugh? Really? I just burst out laughing at the sheer thought of me even applying for such a job! I am, by nature, a GOOFBALL. I would never make it and you know what….THAT IS OKAY BY ME! I love to laugh and smile and just plain enjoy every single day (even when it rains and rains and rains and the sun decides NOT to say hello).  I just thought I would share that bit of hilarious randomness from my brain! (of course it was hilarious to me and well, taters cuz he laughed with me!)

On another note, cloth diapering is AWESOME!!! Once you let go of a couple reservations, life is SO much easier! The only regret I have is NOT DOING IT SOONER! AAARRGGHH!  I got a Rumparooz and Bumgenius 4.0 pocket diaper in the mail today! Washed them, dried them and can’t wait to test them out tomorrow! For those of you who do CD, have you noticed it can be a bit of an obsession? All the different brands, different styles, etc…I sometimes just want to buy them all!!! Then of course that would negate my savings from disposables…ah, I digress.

My kiddos are about the most precious things EVER. Of course, we feel that way about our own children. I have done quite a bit of soul-searching over the past few days and really feel that God has been calling me to step back into my role as a homemaker. I felt pulled to help out at church, attend BSF, get all of our shopping accomplished, get the kids to the library once or twice a week, run here, run there…it was just getting crazy! School went to the back burner not to mention my house and everyone in it. I missed playing with my boys and just being home. It worked out that we all started feeling kinda puny on Monday and we have been home ALL week (except for a small trip today to the library and bank). It has been awesome! I have made meals INCLUDING homemade breads, played with my boys, cleaned until my heart could clean no more, kept up on my email, read countless stories to the boys, actually did SCHOOL work, read my OWN book, exercised twice so far, have the laundry COMPLETELY caught up, the list could go on! I am really excited about this! But you want to know what the absolute BEST part of all of this has been? Abraham and Abel’s reaction. They are randomly coming up and hugging on me, blowing me kisses from afar, bringing me a book or two for a quick read, playing wonderfully during independent play time, helping me COOK, just all around MUCH happier and better behaved kids. It is pretty amazing. I feel bad that I have been so distant/torn/run ragged that I have missed this. I am thankful that God moved my heart and helped me to find this. It is truly making our life so much more worth living!

 


Oct 16 2011

Second partial day of cloth diapering

Anna
Second partial day of cloth diapering

Today was MUCH better! I have already made some adjustments and getting on with the learning curve! We even went to church AND Incredible Pizza company all before we made a stop back home! NO change of pants needed (we had 3 changes yesterday)!!!! It was fabulous! His poop is still gross but the poor kid is teething terribly and I believe causing some diarrhea. I have just absolved to deal with stains and try out some tricks my friends have used.

I have definitely decided for those of you that care….Best Bottom diapers are not for us. They have SO much going for them and I was SO excited but they are just not the right fit. He has horrible red marks all over his chubby thighs. Not a plus in my book. So we are still on the search for the “perfect” diaper!

Oh and why the title says PARTIAL day of cloth diapering is because my mom so graciously took the kids OVERNIGHT tonight (first time for taters – 2nd for hammy)! I did not torture her with cloth diapering. I gave her pampers to use:) That’s the least I can do for someone watching my kiddos!

All in all, I am feeling more and more confident in my decision to go cloth. I have felt this as a call to make this change and maybe God has been leading me for one reason or another. Whatever the case, we are making it work!


Oct 15 2011

First Full day of Cloth Diapering!

Anna

Ham in his Super Undies - The Blue Bandit!

 

Abel sporting his AIO Grovia

Backside shot. Not any bulkier than a disposable! Love it!

Well, today was mixed. I know there is a learning curve so I am going into this knowing it will take me a bit to figure it all out. Not that many of you care, but here is how today went.

I used a Grovia All-in-One  (that I bought on craigslist) with an extra microfiber insert for overnight. Abel is not a heavy wetter at night. This worked FLAWLESSLY! He woke up dry – no leaks! His skin wasn’t terribly wet either! Score 1 for cloth diapering!

Then we began our day. I changed him into a Flip diaper with microfiber stay dry insert. I love aplix/velcro!! I forgot to add the flushable liner to catch the poop. So I quickly fixed that but it had been long enough that I needed to change the insert. So reuse of the cover just new insert along with a liner. We finish breakfast and he poops. Here is the first test run! The flushable liner did okay in catching the poop. There was some staining that went through to the insert. I did realize that I had the insert in wrong – it was upside down as in wrong side facing my dude’s bottom. I fixed that for the next change. This was the last insert I had for the Flip. He goes down for a nap and wakes up with no leaks! He was soaked inside the diaper and the cover was wet too but it never made to his clothes or sheets! Another score for CD’ing!

This time I change him into a Best Bottom diaper with Hemp/Organic cotton insert that snaps in.  Love the fact this diaper has snapped in liners. Keeps them from moving around so much not that I have lots of experience or anything. I decide to take the kids out for lunch today. We went to McD’s (in honor of you mom!) to get some chicken nuggets and free french fries. We get those through the drive-thru and I head over to Subway to get MY lunch. This baby LOVES Subway right now. I get my sandwich and we all sit down to eat inside. 1 hour has elapsed. Munchkin has been drinking and drinking quite a bit. He is HEAVY wetter during the day. I predict I will need to change the liner soon. I check him as we leave and he was actually A Okay! We move on to the next stop: Speedway. Yes, I still drink caffeine. It is either drink a very limited amount of this or take meds that 100% will cause defects to baby OR suffer from ridiculous cluster headaches and basically WANT to die my entire pregnancy….I chose caffeine. Anyway, I digress…I grab a quick drink for me and a refill (G2 gatorade) for the kiddos for AFTER playtime at the park. We now get to the park, this took a whopping 15 minutes from checking him at Subway to walking into the park for play time. We played for probably 30 minutes before he ever felt damp. I was super happy! We went to the car and did a quick change out of the insert and I did change his pants because when I carried him, it made them even wetter. I would have preferred to have changed the diaper cover too but didn’t have any others with me. I am just testing the waters here and not investing LOTS of money…yet.  We go back to playing for another 15 minutes or so and head home. Abel downs nearly 2 sippy cups worth of G2 just on the way home! That kid drinks as badly as his brother! (in quantity only). Maybe if I just gave them water things would slow down….but again I digress. We get home and they play outside while I empty out the car (maybe 10 minutes). We get in the house and I start getting things ready for us to go upstairs to have some quiet time resting from the park…his pants are SOAKED. He drank that much that fast! I foresee water in his future…anyway, we go upstairs and I change him into a Grovia 2-in-1 with an organic cotton soaker with flushable liner. He goes through that one in about 30 minutes. I am beside myself! Thank goodness I decided NOT to put pants on him! It is now naptime…I am SUPER afraid of leakage becauce of how much he has been going and how much he has been drinking. I switch to another Grovia 2-in-1 because I have a total of 4 of those with only 4 soakers. (2 of the diaper covers I got on craigslist, the others I bought as a trial). He had some leaking when he woke but mostly up and out the top. I have noticed this a bunch. The tops of some of the diapers just don’t catch it all. I will have to work on this.  He gets changed after wake-up and by this time and I am to my 2nd to last diaper  cover. Another Grovia 2-in-1. I get him changed with liner. I quickly race to my washing machine and get the other diapers going because I need them! All goes much better for the rest of the evening. He drinking slowed down dramatically which of course means less pee. Since that was the case, life was MUCH easier! No more accidents or leakage! Time for bath. I go to strip him down and take off the diaper….boy was I surprised! I seriously had ZERO clue that this little turkey had pooped a 2nd time! It wasn’t a clean poop either. It was a messy, messy, messy diaper. The flushable liner….didn’t really help with this. Sure it caught some of this poop but it was EVERYWHERE. All over the insert, the diaper cover, and him. I get it all cleaned off him and just stash the nasty diaper and insert in my bathroom sink until I can deal with it. I get the kids bathed and ready for stories. I bide some time with a few minutes of a show with singing (Abel’s favorite and ONLY thing that will keep his attention for any amount of time – Ham will watch ANYTHING). I quickly run downstairs and throw my last 2 diapers in the wash. The others I already washed where thankfully dry and ready to use…kinda. The inserts were ready but the cover/shells have to be hung to dry. They were still wet/damp. I still had one more diaper cover upstairs to use and several inserts (3 that are specific for overnight usage). Abel was in my last Grovia 2-in-1 with a Best Bottom overnight insert thrown in (I had no Grovia inserts and no Best Bottom cover, I improvised!) I will let you know how that works out!

I check on my “dirty” laundry and see that the insert that was poop stained is still poop stained (not too bad) but noticeable. Aaron will definitely NOT like that. I feel defeated most of the evening and think CD’ing is not for me but I come across LOTS of people that have staining and letting the insert dry in the SUN will take the stain right out! Hmm. What do I have to lose? Icky but clean insert went into a ziploc with water to keep it wet overnight and tomorrow before church I will be setting it outside to dry on my deck or porch. I shall let you know how that experiment goes.

Recap: Cloth diapering is not for the faint of heart. I despise the very idea of dunking/swishing or even spraying poop off of a diaper. That is why I was so excited about flushable liners! Well, they are a bit of a disappointment with not so solid poop.

You do have to change diapers frequently! But if you read the packages of disposables, you are supposed to change those every 2 hours! I sure didn’t do that!

I think I might look into fleece liners as those are supposed easier to remove poop from and protect baby’s skin and your diaper from staining. They aren’t expensive….plus I can surely find some rogue fleece around here and try it for FREE!

I also think I might go down the road of a pocket diaper. All the ones I have been using are Hybrids. They have the cover with an insert that lays right up next to his skin. They are used primarily for people who buy the disposable insert (not liner). You get to feel good about using a “disposable” diaper but without the environmental impact (inserts are compostable, flushable or just plain tossable and they will break down in about 150 days versus 500 years for regular disposables that have plastic in them (huggies/pampers and the like). Anyway, a pocket diaper has the “shell” or cover and has a pocket (didn’t see that coming, right?) that you stuff with an insert. The cool thing is there is a nice soft liner that touches baby’s skin and wicks away the moisture. You can stuff with WHATEVER you want. You find what works for you and go! It is fairly similar to a disposable diaper routine. You grab a pocket diaper that has been stuffed and put it on baby! Simple as that. Time for a change? Remove pocket diaper, put in wet bag or whatever for laundry, clean up baby if needed, put on new pocket diaper that was stuffed. No switching inserts, wiping out shells/covers, no “airing out” between changes, etc…

Wow this is a really long post. Sorry. I am sure that 99.9% of will care absolutely NOT for this journey I am on but all pregnancies bring on some sort of obsession and this is mine…for the time being.

I started down this road in search of a washable pull-up for Abraham at night only. I needed something that would really keep him dry but not be something I had to go to the store and buy repeatedly. When he was wearing pull-ups, he would wake 1 to 3 times a night and demand a NEW one if it was wet! That was getting VERY expensive. With his Super Undies that we found, he does great. He doesn’t wake often and if he does, he never asks for new undies and should he wake due to the urge to go, he can go without any problems (it isn’t a diaper, they are underwear!). We had such great success with these (after trial and error) that I just know cloth diapering will be awesome, once I get the hang of it. Well, enough of this. I think the boys are just ADORABLE in these cloth diapers/undies!!!

But oh, didn’t we have so much FUN today!!!

Ham at the park

Taters at the park

And just for the record, I was absolutely beat when I finally told the kids we were leaving. I did exercise this morning and then chased after Abel and little bit of Ham the WHOLE time at the park. It was very tiring especially pregnant. And now look at me, it is midnight, I have church in the morning, what am I doing? Posting to my blog! Geez. Good night everyone!